{"id":26454,"date":"2021-07-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog-staging.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/postpartum-sleep-things-no-one-tell-you\/"},"modified":"2024-04-25T21:14:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T21:14:11","slug":"postpartum-sleep-things-no-one-tell-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/postpartum-sleep-things-no-one-tell-you\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Things No One Tells You About Postpartum Sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whether or not you have kids, you\u2019ve likely heard about the sleep deprivation that comes with new parenthood<\/a>. If you do have children, you\u2019ve lived it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When babies are born, they don\u2019t have the established circadian rhythms that we as adults have; they don\u2019t know the difference between day and night. Think about the environment in the womb: It\u2019s loud and dark. The outside world with its bright days and silent rooms is a stark contrast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time and with a little help, babies develop a circadian rhythm and sleep through the night. I\u2019ll always remember the morning sometime in late August a few years ago when my husband and I woke up in a panic at 4:45 a.m. to find our daughter peacefully sleeping in her crib; her first “through the night” slumber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that takes time. And while the no-sleep narrative of those early infant days is a well-known one, there are other<\/em> more unexpected ways having a child impacts your sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some of the biggest, most surprising hurdles to rest\u2014and how to secure some peace and quiet in your day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breastfeeding is a round-the-clock job<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before I had a baby, I severely underestimated the amount of work that breastfeeding entails. From essentially the moment the baby is born up until you wean\u2014weeks or months or years later\u2014you’ll be feeding your baby every two to four hours or so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a big job with a big-time commitment and lots of yawns. And while it’s rewarding\u2014your baby is quite literally growing because of the food you <\/em>are producing and providing!\u2014it’s also exhausting and constant. (Check out our fourth trimester sleep survival guide<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But breastfeeding can help you sleep too<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s true. While babies do feed every two to three hours around the clock (and breastfed babies might eat more often since breastmilk is more easily digestible than formula), research suggests breastfeeding mothers get more sleep than those who formula feed<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hormones such as prolactin and melatonin<\/a>, implicated in the production of milk and in milk composition, are at play. That means that while those 3 a.m. feedings jolt you up, your body naturally works to soothe you back to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pumping in the middle of the night could become a necessity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When my daughter finally slept through the night (remember, that can be a five-hour stretch for some babies!), I remember thinking my middle-of-the-night wake-ups<\/a> were done. Unfortunately, my body was still waking up, though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your baby starts to sleep longer stretches at night, you might find yourself up at 2 a.m. because you\u2019re uncomfortable from having full breasts. That\u2019s normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most lactation consultants advise new moms to listen to their bodies and pump to comfort levels\u2014just enough to relieve discomfort\u2014in the middle of the night if they wake up unable to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your sheets might be a mess<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After delivering a baby, your body goes through one of the biggest hormonal shifts of your lifetime. When you deliver the placenta, levels of hormones that were once sky-high (estrogen and progesterone) plummet\u2014a hormonal change that\u2019s necessary for your body to produce breastmilk<\/a> to feed your baby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this massive hormonal change can also come with side effects such as night sweats<\/a>\u2014which help your body rid itself of excess fluid from pregnancy and are a reaction to a quick drop in estrogen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Night sweats are often shocking and uncomfortable for new moms and can make sleep difficult (hi, soaking wet sheets and chills).Moisture-wicking sheets<\/span>\u00a0and time (usually, night sweats start to taper off around six weeks) can help you feel more comfortable.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another reason why your sheets will find their way into your laundry pile faster than usual: When your milk \u201ccomes in\u201d a few days postpartum, you\u2019ll likely notice engorgement and leaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comfy nursing bras (like this one from Bodily<\/a>) and expressing milk to comfort levels, as well as time, can help you feel better\u2014and keep things contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Postpartum anxiety can keep you up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not being able to sleep when you want to sleep is incredibly frustrating\u2014but it can also be a sign of something more serious postpartum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maternal mental health conditions, often referred to as perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), happen in about one in five to one in seven new moms<\/a>\u2014and incidence has been higher<\/a> amidst the pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PMADs include perinatal depression, anxiety, OCD, and more. Anxiety<\/a> in particular\u2014common in new moms, especially in the early weeks of hormonal changes and acute sleep deprivation\u2014can be a contributing factor to issues such as insomnia<\/a> and further sleep deprivation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re constantly checking the baby, find yourself so anxious you can\u2019t rest or sleep when the baby is sleeping, or feel as though your symptoms are getting in the way of your ability to care for yourself and your baby, you could have a PMAD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seek support! PMADs are highly treatable. Peer support and education (I run virtual mom groups<\/a> through my company Dear Sunday), therapy (you can find a provider trained in perinatal mental health via Postpartum Support International\u2019s online directory<\/a>), and medication (many medications including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, have good safety data during pregnancy<\/a> and while breastfeeding<\/a>) can all help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are ways to lay the foundation for good sleep<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to helping your baby adjust to life outside the womb, sometimes, it\u2019s easy to feel helpless. Often babies cry, they \u201ccluster feed\u201d for what feels like hours on end, and they\u2019re not easily soothed. That\u2019s all commonplace with a brand-new baby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are also <\/em>ways to help soothe a crying baby and calm them for sleep (try Dr. Harvey Karp\u2019s the \u201c5 S\u2019s\u201d<\/a>), support their natural sleep patterns (newborns aren\u2019t able to stay up very long\u2014usually only 60 minutes or so at a time), and start to develop a rhythm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kids, even babies, thrive on routines, and it\u2019s never too early to start a bedtime routine\u2014or begin exposing your child to bright, lit environments during the day and dark ones at night\u2014to help them along. Just remember that infants are infants, and these things take time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, babies do sleep<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I remember when I was about one month postpartum with my first, sitting on my front doorstep bleary-eyed and tired and texting a friend who had a six-month-old at the time. Do you ever sleep again? <\/em>I asked her. She responded by saying that the early days with a baby are tough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adults are used to\u2014and biologically require\u2014a long, solid chunk of sleep every night. But she also reminded me that those days are temporary (a short \u201cblip\u201d on the radar in the big scheme of parenting\u2014even only a few months later).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not overly helpful if you\u2019re living for three-hour chunks of sleep at night, but it\u2019s a nice reminder that the phase of newborn sleep deprivation is a season\u2014one that does (I promise!) end. (Get answers to the most common questions about sleep after maternity leave<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should you let your baby sleep in the same bed as you? Here’s a look at how co-sleeping can be dangerous for your child<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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